Item Details

abstract

In this thesis, I analyze the Criminal Justice system in America through the lens of human rights. I argue that our current system which predominantly emphasizes retribution and the removal of criminals from society is a violation of human rights. This argument is divided into three parts. In the first part, I give a brief description of the development of corrections in America. In the second part, I present evidence for the role that extralegal factors play in disproportionate sentencing and even the decision on what is considered “criminal” activity in the first place. In the final section, I present a particular view of human rights founded on social recognition. This view lays out a vision of human dignity that is vulnerable to devastation and humiliation by others that we engage with socially at every moment depending on whether or not they decide to recognize us as human beings. This argument is ultimately aimed at helping us understand the failure of the criminal justice system in the United States and how the social devaluation of those labeled criminal contributes to this process.

subject

American Corrections

Human rights

Incarceration

Social death

contributor

James, Ronald C. (author)

Ilesanmi, Simeon (committee chair)

Boyd, Stephen (committee member)

Gunkel, Steven (committee member)

date

2019-09-05T08:35:19Z (accessioned)

2019-09-05T08:35:19Z (available)

2019 (issued)

degree

Religion (discipline)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/94304 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

title

THE INJUSTICE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: AN ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN CORRECTION THROUGH THE PRISM OF HUMAN RIGHTS

type

Thesis